COSMAT: Committee On the Survey of Materials Science and Engineering, 1974

COSMAT Report, 1974

The Committee on the Survey of Materials Science and Engineering: Materials
and Man's Needs - Materials Science and Engineering

COSMAT (Committee on the Survey of Materials Science and Engineering),
chaired by Morris Cohen, MIT, and William Baker, Bell Labs, provided
an overview of the field requested by the US National Academy of
the Sciences' Committee on Science and Public Policy. The committee
consisted primarily of practitioners in the field of materials research:
individuals from academia and industry, with one member from the
National Bureau of Standards and one from Resources for the Future,
Inc.

The overall objectives were: "to determine the nature and
scope of materials science and engineering; to ascertain the linkage
of science with engineering in the field of materials for the successful
translation of new basic knowledge into successful application;
to examine the interaction of materials science and engineering
with other areas of science and technology; to discern trends in
the development of the materials field in order to identify its
challenges, opportunities and needs; and to reach conclusions concerning
the means by which materials science and engineering might contribute
more broadly to the national well-being."

The report recommends increased funding for the field under "comprehensive
federal leadership", including a strengthened academic base
and an intensified industrial effort. It is perhaps not surprising
that a committee consisting almost exclusively of materials researchers
should recommend vastly increased funding for their own field. But
even when reading this report critically as an example of boosterism,
it should be kept in mind that, by all accounts, many readers in
influential positions were swayed by the arguments.

At the very least, the report is the most comprehensive overview
of materials science and engineering ever. As such it is highly
revealing. The entire document is reproduced here. You can browse
from page to page in small, medium, or large resolution.

PS. Unfortunately the student scanning has left
a little to be desired: pp. 011, 012, 031, 032, 089, 090, and 186
are doubles (our URL-numeration). Pp. 181, 188, 233, and 235 will
be re-scanned.